Teledyne SofTA 300S ELSD Quick Start Manual

SofTA 300S ELSD
Quick Start Guide

Instruction Sheet 8-243109

May 2016

Overview

This quick start guide will take you through the steps
to successfully set up and use your SofTA 300S ELSD.
Please see the SofTA 300S ELSD User Manual for more
information regarding this product.

Connections

● Exhaust: The ELSD exhaust is a ½” O.D. stainless

steel tube. Use the supplied exhaust adaptor and
additional tubing to connect to a fume hood dur­ing operation.

● Communication: An output jack can be found on

the back of the ELSD for connection to a chart
recorder, computing integrator, or computer­ized data system. The maximum signal output is
1 V.

● Gas Connections: Connect a supply of clean, dry,

inert gas regulated to 65 psi to the
on the back of the unit. The internal gas regula­tor maintains the gas pressure at the factory set
value displayed on the front panel.

● Power Connection: The ELSD operates at either

120 V or 240 V, 50/60 Hz.

● Fluid Connections: Connect the outlet from your

HPLC injector to the inlet line on the front of the
unit. The length and volume between the injec­tor outlet and the detector inlet should be kept
as short as possible to avoid unnecessary band
broadening.

● Thermo-Split Drain: Place the ¼” stainless steel

drain adapter, provided in the accessory kit, on
the drain port located on the front of the instru­ment. Direct the outlet of the tube to a collec­tion vessel below the drain. Place the open end
of the flexible ¼” elastometric tubing in a suit­able waste container, and trim the length as nec­essary. Watch the liquid level in the container
during operation and empty it when it is full
(especially when running the spray chamber at
sub-ambient temperature).

Location

All components of the system should be placed on a
sturdy table or bench in a room with a room tempera­ture of 20 ± 5 °C. The detector is designed to fit
alongside an HPLC system. The detector must be placed
with at least 4” of clearance on the right and back of the
detector to allow for proper air flow through the
detector. Access to the back of the unit is required to
make the appropriate connections and provide for safe
removal of the power cord.

GAS INLET port

Operation

Instrument Controls

The ELSD is controlled via six touch-sensitive keys
on the front panel labeled PWR (power), A/Z (A/Z), ESC
(escape),
behind the front panel. The touch-sensitive keys are
activated by lightly placing a finger over the light repre­senting the key. An audible beep is heard when the key
is activated. Touching the
parameters section to review operation conditions. If
there is a * at the upper right corner, touching ESC key
will bring up a screen to explain what’s wrong.

Menu

Touching the ENT key will bring up the MENU screen.

Start-up

▲ (up), ▼ (down) and ENT (enter) found

▲ or ▼ keys will circulate the

SC = Spray Chamber (setpoint: 10 °C to 60 °C; readout
range: -10.0 °C to 120.0 °C)
DT = Drift Tube (setpoint: 22°C to 120°C; readout
range: -10.0 °C to 120.0 °C)
OC = Optical Cell (setpoint: 22 °C to 70 °C; readout
range: -10.0 °C to 120.0 °C)
RST= Reset baseline to about 20 mV.
BLN = Baseline reading (5000.000 – 0.000 mV)
GAS = Gas (0.0 to 130.0 psi)
FLT or BFT = Baseline Filter (OFF, weight 1 to 10)
FS = Full Scale (1 V or 10 mV)
GAIN = Gain (Normal or Low)
CAL = Calibration (50% to 200%)

1. Make all connections (gas, liquid, power, com­munications, exhaust, and drain) as described
above. Do not turn on the gas supply yet.

2. Press the M
nostic tests. When the tests are complete, press­ing the M
mode.

3. Confirm that the correct conditions are set by
touching the

parameters. If not
to display the M

keys to select set points. Touch M
key to accept the changes. The A
functions as an escape key, and abandons any
changes made.

4. Start your HPLC pump to deliver 1 mL/min
mobile phase to the detector. When you see liq­uid coming out of the drain port, the internal “p”
trap is filled with the mobile phase. (This may

ENU | Power key to begin self-diag-

ENU | Power key again will exit standby

▲ or ▼ keys to cycle through the

, touch the MENU | Power key

ENU screen. Touch the ▲ or ▼

ENU | Power

UTOZERO key

take up to 10 minutes.) Stop the pump at this
time.

5. Before conditions are met, a * blinks at the
upper right corner of the display and the green
light above Ready is not lit. Press the

ENU | Power key to display the error condition.

M
Allow up to 30 minutes for temperatures to reach
their set points and the electronics to stabilize.

6. Start the gas flow.

7. When the gas flow is stable, start the mobile
phase flow.

8. When the R

UTOZERO key to reset the baseline. Cycle

A

EADY light illuminates, press the

through the settings to BLN. This is the voltage
offset by the A

UTOZERO button. Record this value.

It is important to record this value for each set of
operating conditions. If the value is high (greater than
500 mV), the mobile phase is not being evaporated and
the detector temperatures should be modified. Monitor
your data system and ELSD signal for stability. The
signal should be stable within 2 mV. When stable, begin
your analysis.

Shut Down Procedure

Stop the flow of mobile phase to the system. Wait for
the pump pressure to return to zero. Select the E

TANDBY button from the HOME page or activate the

S
power key and follow the on screen directions. Allow the
standby timer to count down. In standby, the gas flow is
shut off and the laser and heaters are turned off.

NTER

performance. The following table can provide a starting
point for some common mobile phases. Optimization for
the best signal-to-noise ratio will provide the best
sensitivity.

Solvent @ 1.0mL/min DT, °C SC, °C

90/10 Water/METHANOL 45 15
90/10 Methanol/WATER 65 50
50/50 Methanol/Water 60 30
Acetonitrile 60 50
Methanol 60 50
Water 45 10

Choosing Operating Conditions

The drift tube temperature and the Thermo-Split
spray chamber temperature are selected to provide the
maximum detector response with minimum baseline
noise. The temperatures are selected based on the sol­vent volatility and mobile phase flowrate. Some
experimentation will be required to optimize the ELSD.

When setting the ELSD temperatures for a new
method, select 25 °C for spray chamber temperature
and 55 °C for drift tube temperature. These tempera­tures should then be adjusted for the best
signal-to-noise ratio during method optimization. A
mobile phase that is highly organic and volatile will
require a moderately high drift tube temperature and an
ambient or elevated spray chamber temperature. Highly
aqueous or high boiling point organic mobile phases will
perform best at moderate drift tube temperatures and
sub-ambient spray chamber temperatures.

Each mobile phase can require a different set of oper­ating conditions to achieve the best detector

Teledyne Isco

P.O. Box 82531, Lincoln, Nebraska, 68501 USA
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specifications, replacement parts, schematics, and instructions without notice.